Rediscovering history with a CRM-integrated website
Success achieved
How the Historical Association attracts students with their newly designed, CRM-integrated website and empowers teachers to deliver more inspirational history lessons.
- Website
- www.history.org.uk
- Project dates
May 2014, Early Design Phase - June 2016, Website and Database go live
Project team
- Simon Brown – Website development, design and project management
- Emily Randall – CRM database development and project management
- Martin Oxnard and Taras Johnson – Website Developers and Designers – Gooii Ltd
- Jyoti Hull-Jurkovic, Alexander Kopetzky and Pranav Bihari – Database Developers and Consultants - Zengage
Tools & Systems
- IMIS, our CRM
- Mockup, wireframing platform
- Zengage
Introduction
The Historical Association is a membership organisation with thousands of members with many needs. The bulk of its membership is teachers and lecturers, but it also has over 50 branches across the UK and members from all walks of life. In addition, the HA is the voice for history to the public, to the media and to politicians. The website needs to provide a wide-ranging service but still address and support the very specific and personal needs of our members.
Discovery
Primary and secondary educators comprise around 70% of our association’s user base, so catering to their needs is key. As teachers become increasingly time-poor, they not only need high-quality resources especially tailored for them, but also to be able to locate them quickly and return to them when necessary. They need classroom materials resources and resources to support their own pedagogical understanding and development.
The new HA website has taken those needs on board and as well as having high-quality content it has also re-organised and signposted thousands of resources into clear sections appropriate for the different types of teachers who are its members.
Objectives
- To fully integrate the website and the membership database.
- To produce a design that opens up our rich and growing set of resources and enable our members/ users to fully personalise their experience of the site via ‘My HA’.
Activities
Discussions and surveys of our committees/ membership took place between 2013 and 2014 about what we as an organisation and they as key stake holders/members wanted from the database and the new website.
Over May/June 2014, Simon Brown, the HA Digital Producer, created a first design of the new site built on the Mockup wireframing platform. Using this tool Simon was able to construct an extensive prototype site to present to HA internal staff members in July 2014 and then to our web developers, to get a quote on the likely cost and feasibility of the project.
The prototype site was refined over July/August based on these discussions and then shown by Rebecca Sullivan, our CEO, to our national council for comments.
Based on the comments of our council, the prototype site was refined further over August and September and was then demonstrated to groups of different HA members in October/ November 2014.
Based on the responses of these focus groups, Simon was able to put together a final prototype design by February 2015 which was then provided to our web developers to provide us with a quote and a timescale for the work.
Meanwhile, between May and August 2014, Emily Randall, our Membership Manager, began documenting a scope of requirements and profiling different database providers, with demonstrations organised between September and November 2014.
During this period Emily also spoke to other organisations currently using databases we were profiling to gauge their experiences of the software, any difficulties they faced, and any advice they would give with regard to the implementation.
A final decision was made to use the IMIS database in January 2015. IMIS was produced by the same company that developed our then current database so offered a more seamless transfer of membership data between the two systems.
Unlike our previous database, IMIS would be able to communicate with our new website directly and offer a range of new services that the previous database did not, including member self-service (renewals, member updates), connections with social media, direct email through the database, real time dashboards, etc.
Membership homepage
At this stage Zengage was also selected as a third partner to oversee the migration and implementation of the IMIS software based on their knowledge of the technology and their ability to implement bespoke elements required.
Discussions then took place between February and May 2015 between Simon, Emily, Zengage and Gooii working through all our requirements and the specific logistics of the project in more detail, including phases of the project, anticipated timescales, etc.
Contracts were signed in May 2015 and work began in earnest on migrating the membership database in June 2015 – with Gooii Ltd building html templates for the new website based on Simon’s prototype design
Between July and September 2015 Melanie Jones, our Education Manager, worked with our Primary and Secondary Education committees and the editors of our journals (Primary History and Teaching History) to come up with a new, easier-to-navigate structure to our Primary and Secondary areas. Similar work was done by Rebecca Sullivan, CEO; Simon Brown, Digital Producer; Paula Kitching, Press Officer and Anne-Marie Stephenson, Marketing Manager, with our Branches & Membership Committee and the editors of our magazine (The Historian) to restructure the Historian, Events and Get Involved sections of the website. Based on these discussions Simon was able to build prototype versions of these areas over September 2015, which he was then able to demonstrate to focus groups of our members in October/November 2015.
The comments from the focus groups provided us with the information necessary for Simon to construct the finalised structure to the home sections in our newly developed CMS. From this point until May 2016 our Digital Producer transferred and reformatted thousands of web pages, modules and resources from the old site to the new one.
It was also necessary to reformat all of our video content and podcasts so that they would work on all devices and platforms. During this period an enormous amount of work was necessary by our members of staff: Rebecca Sullivan, Paula Kitching, Melanie Jones, Alf Wilkinson; and our committees in creating new information pages and guidance to enable users to easily navigate the site.
As the desktop version of the site developed, we had to refine designs to make sure the mobile versions would work and be used with ease.
Meanwhile, system setup and data migration comprised the first core stage of the database implementation in July – September 2015 , followed by the development of key member self-service functions including online joining and renewals, updating details, preferences, adding extra staff to accounts, etc.
Once these core functions were in hand, we put them out for testing and feedback in the early months of 2016, constantly developing more user-friendly iterations. Back office processes were also set up during this period including billing and invoicing processes, financial reports and communication queries, Direct Debit functionality, etc.
We started to drip feed stories about the new site going live between December 2015 and May 2016 through our website, social media, publications and at events. We went live with both the new website and database on 31st May 2016. We encountered no major loss of service and the reception we have received from our members/users and main stakeholders has been very positive.
Innovation
All content on the site is categorised according to time period, theme, and location, and there are keywords to highlight which aspects of the National Curriculum/examination each resource supports.
Importantly, each member has their own dedicated and personalised log in section (‘My HA’). There they can save different resources, articles, podcasts, news stories and links. This means that they do not need to download resources or make repeat searches every time they log in.
For the general interest historian member, the website offers a wide range of entry points to learn about history. The new website includes articles of varying lengths and knowledge level, podcasts and event listings. All the materials are clearly titled and categorised, and the interactive podcast timeline allows them to explore both new and familiar areas of history, furthering the association’s core aim of enabling access to quality history for all.
HA's Podcasts arranged on a timeline
Challenges
The Historical Association is entirely funded from its membership and its project work. It does not receive funds from government or any other major funding body. The decision to ensure that it has the most up to date website that is able to meet its membership needs was one taken by the staff and trustees. The decision to dedicate the money required to make the digital changes and overhaul possible was not inconsiderable for a small charity, but it was done with the belief that teachers of history and lovers of the subject deserve the best possible digital access and support if they are to continue to have access to independent quality resources. The HA is committed to ensuring the best possible opportunities for everyone to access history and providing its members with a strong voice that talks of the future while they are learning about the past.
Limited staff resources were also a significant challenge and meant we needed to harness the input of all our staff and our many volunteers who all contributed to the project in different ways. The breadth of the project was also challenging in terms of integrating and launching new web and CRM systems at the same time, which is often advised against. We found however that the overhauling the systems concurrently worked very much to our advantage and we wouldn’t have done it any other way.
Achievements
The site is now mobile responsive across all platforms, enabling members and visitors to access the HA from all desktop and mobile devices. This means that a teacher can plan their lessons on-the-go, inside and outside of the classroom or home environment.
Anyone with membership can also access the podcasts while mobile or read articles without being home or office-based. For schools or the general historian out on a history tour, they can access supporting historical information about a site or a specific time period wherever they are.
Members and users can also update or manage their profile, update their details, join and renew on-the-go anytime, anywhere.
We have experienced an increase in traffic via tablets and mobiles, with a subsequent increase in search engine rankings and downloads, particularly in schemes of work for primary teachers, pamphlets for general members and careers guidance for students, demonstrating the impact of this optimisation for a broad demographic.
The new site only launched in the summer of 2016, but already the feedback has been entirely positive. Teachers in particular have been delighted to use the ‘My HA’ space, and that has been cited along with the quality of the resources as the main reason for new members to join. Visitor numbers to the site are up on previous years even at this stage.
The "Get involved" page
Figures are showing that many members who were less engaged with the web previously, including those that have never logged into any website before, have said they find it easy to use and it has opened up many new resources and ways to enjoy history (one user said that the experience “ was like Alice in Wonderland!”).
Calls to get involved or join are signposted throughout different areas of the website with taster resources for non-members. There is also a dedicated ‘Get Involved’ section which encompasses branches, events, volunteering, contributing to publications and more. The conversion of basic non-members to members has improved considerably thanks to the visual impact of the new site, ease of navigation and the ‘My HA’ save facility.
What would we do differently?
Although we wouldn’t necessarily change our approach, there are some pointers that became increasingly clear:
- Start with the basics and get these right before moving on to more complex functionality
- Take the time to ensure you are crystal clear on your project scope in minute detail from the outset. This will inevitably evolve, but it will be worth the effort so that you, your stakeholders, and your partners are all on the same page throughout the process.
- Finally, take into account the significant amount of time needed for testing - and re-testing... and then testing some more!
Feedback & Testimonials
‘The re-structuring of the HA website is in my view a great success - well done!’
Retired history enthusiast
‘Thank you very much for an excellent new website! I recommend it and write about it...in my textbook on history education. You are doing a great job for history!’
Author and Professor
‘Thank you so much! The new website is wonderful!’
Year 5 Primary Teacher
Wider impact
From an operational perspective, the integration of the website with the database brings a number of significant improvements for the running for the association, particularly in light of our limited staff resources. We were previously working across different systems which didn’t speak to each other and took a lot of time to maintain, and the analysis of the data was often cumbersome.
The integration has reduced duplication of work between multiple systems, giving us more time and energy to devote to the needs of our members. In transitioning from multiple data silos to one single authoritative database, we have achieved a single and holistic view of our members and users. This, along with more dynamic and user friendly reporting tools, empowers us to make smarter strategic decisions. We are also able to offer a better quality of engagement with our resources based on our member wants and needs, to help build on retention of members.
